Suchergebnisse

Over the seven decades considered in the chapter, the Italian wine industry has changed dramatically, from a dispersed production system mainly oriented to self- consumption of supply and the local market with low- value wines, to a modern industry able to satisfy an increasingly demanding domestic supply and very competitive international markets with a wide range of wines. The current situation is the result of a long process driven by many factors, acting inside and outside the sector, and mainly national and EU policies and changing domestic and international demand. The evolution of the sector happened in four different phases, marked by different drivers and characteristics. Each period is described focusing on grape growing, wine making, domestic consumption, exports and policies affecting the industry.

From WWII to present, the Italian wine industry changed dramatically, from a disperse production system, mainly oriented to self-consumption and to low-value wines for local markets, to a modern industry able to satisfy a demanding domestic supply and a competitive international market. The chapter analyses this long process and its main drivers: technical changes in grapegrowing and in winemaking, domestic and international demand, national and EU policies. The industry's post-war evolution and its drivers are discussed subdivided in four different periods: 1946-1970, characterized by a domestic consumption-driven expansion; 1970-1985, when the sector became increasingly structurally oriented toward exports; 1985-2000, marked by a shift towards higher-quality wines and by a strong increase in exports; 2000-2014, in which a change in the organization of the wine value chain occurred, with emerging players and an increasing vertical integration, leading to a successful competition on the international market. Throughout the period, the sector moved towards the production of premium wines and adopted a new attitude towards quality, under the stimulus of domestic and international demand. In this context, different types of firms found room: mostly small- and medium-sized wine producers deeply rooted in agriculture, but some quite big co-operatives and bottlers.

In recent years, Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) have been a key issue both in the scientific community and in public debates. This is due to their profound implications for rural development, local sustainability, and bio-economics. This edited collection discusses what the main determinants of the participation of operators - both consumers and producers - in AFNs are, what the conditions for their sustainability are, what their social and environmental effects are, and how they are distributed geographically. Further discussions include the effect of AFNs in structuring the food chain and how AFNs can be successfully scaled up. The authors explicitly take an interdisciplinary approach to analyse AFNs from different perspectives, using as an example the Italian region of Piedmont, a particularly interesting case study due to the diffusion of AFNs in the area, as well as due to the fact that it was in this region that the 'Slow Food' movement originated.